I had the pleasure to be a guest on the Beancast aka " The Best Marketing Podcast Anywhere". Hold on TIGHT for a death defying audio cacophony through the nebulous yet grandiose (but never pretentious) marketing and social media (under)world. i.e. please click on this LINK to listen/download the show ..... Featuring Myself, Bob Knorpp, Jared Roy and David Spark.

I've been working with a great team of innovators for an organisation called Intersect.

Save the date for March 7th 2013 as we are excited to announce 'Unleashing Risk - The Innovator's Opportunity'.It's a brand new conference that wrestles the challenge of how to truly use risk as a growth catalyst for innovation.

Speakers include top executives from Kraft Foods, Johnson Controls, GE Healthcare and Harvard Professor Carliss Baldwin. More announcements to come soon....Check it out and register here: intersectmke.com

If you want to create an ad as wonderfully sentimental and magical as this Morrison's tv spot you need to do three things:

1. Embrace your emotions

Reject functional and rational messaging, and embrace the right brained world of emotion. Force yourself to see the world from the viewers perspective; their humanity, aspirations, frailties, and joyful moments. Resist the urge to make it mainstream or superficial (and write that in your brief).

2. Remember it's not about you, its about me!

Make the viewer (customer/audience) your only priority. That's right, tell a story only they will care about. Realise that capturing their mind and their heart is all you need to do. This is not the time for selling, for price promotions, for store front shots or gratuitous branding.

3. Believe, be fearless and stay the course

For a story this magical, you have to trust your agency, the creatives and the director. When they talk about making it feel authentic and spontaneous...just let them do their thing. When they ask for the 'slow mo' camera for the flour scene just say yes. When you ask to make the logo bigger in the end frame, listen and agree when they say no and push back.

One last thing

Whatever you do, don't give in to internal pressure to make changes (stay strong in that tough meeting when the ad is being torn to pieces). Don't cave to demands to make it more like competitor 'X', or add in more facts like competitor 'Y'. Only marketers and agencies with true belief in their art will take calculated risks like this, and customers will reward them with their minds, hearts and money.

My first ever Archie McPhee package arrived today, and introduced me to their wonderful tag line "Slightly less dissapointing than other companies". Brought a wry smile to my face, and told me all I need to know about their unique brand character. Love it! #Lovemark.

P.S.......take another look at 'dissappointing'...and run a spell check !